Rock Hill School Board Work Session Next Tuesday @ Lesslie Elementary School

Please note the September work session of the Rock Hill School Board will be on Tuesday night instead of the usual Monday meeting. Big items will be a discussion on the recent $1.5 million dollar shortfall in this year's revenue and a new student assignment policy. A copy of the agenda can be seen by clicking here.

SCHOOL BOARD WORK SESSION LOCATION: Lesslie Elementary

START: 5:30 p.m.

DATE: TUESDAY September 15, 2009

ITEM# ,AGENDA TOPIC, DISCUSSION LEADER

1 Presentation by Lesslie Elementary School, Seberina Myles

2 Enrollment Report (10 day), Joel Whitesides

3 Status of Positions for 2009-2010, Beckye Partlow

4 4%-6% Cut of EFA Funding, Bill Mabry

5 ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Bill Mabry

6 Pennies for Progress-Rights of Way,-Southside High Area Bill Mabry

7 Annex Building, Luanne Kokolis

8 Reassignment Policy, Luanne Kokolis

9 Updated & New School Board Policy Proposals, Keith Wilks

Proposed new policy:

Policy

Reassignment of Students

Code JCR Issued DRAFT9/09

Purpose: To establish the basic structure to reassign students to schools.

In order to provide equal access to quality educational opportunities for all students, the Board is committed to providing necessary and adequate resources, to include materials, technology, and personnel, to all district schools. School assignments are made to maximize use of school facilities and support diverse populations. Students are assigned to schools within the attendance zone of their residence. The Board believes in the philosophic goal of maintaining meaningful diversity. Due to growth and demographic shifts in populations, and opening of new schools, parents should not expect that their school of initial enrollment will be their child's school for all of the elementary, middle, or high school years, as attendance zones are subject to change. Should reassignment occur, the Board does make a commitment to students and parents to:

• make every reasonable and practical effort to avoid reassignment

• begin the reassignment process in the fall of the year preceding implementation of a new reassignment plan

Prior to the start of the school year, the superintendent shall prepare an annual report reviewing school population in individual schools to include the percentage of students receiving free and/or reduced lunch supplement, student performance on state achievement tests, and student distribution. In addition, the administration will review student distribution data to ensure that no school is in racial isolation.

Attendance areas are available from the Planning Department and can be viewed on the district Web-site at:http://www.rock-hill.k12.sc.us.

The President's Tuesday Speech

You can read the full text of The President's speech by clicking here. I wonder if those who were/are afraid of the speech affecting their children were worried about this:

• Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
• Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
• But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
• No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work.

Rock Hill's Meeks Contributes To Clemson Win

From My Orange Update:

Football: Freshmen contribute to win

CLEMSON, SC - SEPTEMBER 5: DeAndre McDaniel #2 of the Clemson Tigers stops Desmond Gee #2 of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders for a loss at Memorial Stadium on September 5, 2009 in Clemson, South Carolina. Photo by Rex Brown.

By David Hood

CLEMSON — Clemson safety Jonathan Meeks, a true freshman out of Rock Hill, SC, had no idea how much he would play in Saturday’s season opener against Middle Tennessee State, but one thing he knew for certain was that he was going to take in every moment and detail to remember later.

As it turned out, Clemson had several freshmen contribute and play in the 37-14win over the Blue Raiders along with Meeks, including running back Andre Ellington, linebacker Corico Hawkins, safety Rashard Hall and defensive lineman Malliciah Goodman. Meeks said he was sure they all were feeling the same butterflies he felt leading into the game.

“It was great,” Meeks said of his first game. “It was so different from high school, with the crowd and the atmosphere. Since we put on our suits on Friday and left campus, everything has been exciting and I have been proud to be a Clemson Tiger. The whole time -in the hotel, in meetings, running down the hill, getting dressed – it was great. I could not have asked for anything better.”

Goodman was in on one tackle, but it was Hall who made the biggest splash on the defensive side of the ball, registering 10 total tackles and earning the praise of his head coach, who said he thought all of the freshmen played well.

“We had a lot of freshmen and redshirt freshmen that played and played well,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Andre Ellington came in and showed what he can do. He is electric. And Rashard Hall had 10 tackles. We had a lot of redshirt freshmen out there, guys like Dwayne Allen that played well.

“I thought Meeks did a good job, and Malliciah was active. He lost contain one time down there, but he is going to be a special player. And Corico Hawkins got into the game. It was good for those guys to get some time under their belts and get some experience. They are just going to get better.”

Ellington stole the show on the offensive end, rushing nine times for 72 yards, second only to Jamie Harper’s 76 yards, and broke two long runs late in the game that had Death Valley buzzing over his skills.

“I felt pretty good out there, and had a great time in front of 75,000 fans,” Ellington said. “Coach Swinney told me on that last drive that we never quit, and we still had time on the clock, and that he wanted me to score. He said that they were still going to block for me, so that is why I ran so hard. But it just felt good to get in there and show what I can do. When C.J. went out, I knew I would have my chance to get in there.”

Meeks said he felt like he did some things well in his debut, but also sounded like a much older player when he said he knew he had things to work on.

“I thought I played great, did what the coaches had coached me on, and put it all together out there,” Meeks said. “I had a lot of butterflies until I ran down the hill, but after that, I was able to settle in and do what I had been coached on. But I know I need to get better at play recognition, and recognize them faster.”

Are U.S. Students Really That Bad?

I'm sure we can do better, but click on this link to see how we actually stand up. It's not as bad as some people would like you to think.

Comments on Using Test Scores To Evaluate Teachers

The Obama Administration has suggested evaluating teachers using student test scores - something I suspect the Republicans have suggested as well. The Education Policy Blog has some comments on this and they provide links to the Teacher Leaders Network, an article in The Sacramento Bee , and the American Psychological Association report on Testing and Assessment.

Click on the links and decide for yourself if this idea is workable.

Soccer America Writes About Discoveries Soccer Club National Championship

You can read the full article on Soccer America by clicking here.

A SMALL CLUB FROM SOUTH Carolina, Discoveries SC, stole the show at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, winning the U-18 title with a scintillating performance. A small club from South Carolina, Discoveries SC, stole the show at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, winning the U-18 title with a scintillating performance.

The 2009 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships certainly had its share of memorable moments:

• The Baltimore Casa Mia Bays won the U-19 and U-15 titles to become only the fourth team to win two boys titles at the National Championships in the same year.

• The Colorado Rush Nike captured its ninth girls national title - one more than the Dallas Texans - and third back-to-back championship with a 4-2 overtime win in the U-19 division.

• The Dallas Texans won a sixth boys title and the Eclipse Select of Illinois captured its fifth girls championship.

But nothing beat the amazing run of the Discoveries Soccer Club, which became the first team from South Carolina to win a national championship, completing a dominating run through the state tournament, regionals and nationals with a 2-1 win over Kentucky's Javanon in the final.

Coached by Dom Wren (Northwestern High School), DSC was comprised of players from York County - a growing suburb of Charlotte, N.C. - including seven players from his Rock Hill Northwestern High School team, ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA/adidas high school spring national rankings.

DSC finished with 28 goals in six games at the Region III Championships and 17 goals in the four games at the National Championships.

Its star is Enzo Martinez, who was born in Uruguay - yes, he was named after the great Enzo Francescoli - and moved to Rock Hill when he was 10.

Martinez and his younger brother Alex, a teammate on the U-18 championship team, shared a pair of cleats - baseball cleats - for the first month of the American youth soccer experience until it became apparent to their coach that they both needed to be on the field at the same time.

Enzo Martinez followed up on his national high school title with Northwestern High - he scored 182 goals in four years, sixth all-time in U.S. prep history - by scoring twice in both the semifinals and final at the regionals and four goals at the nationals, including the first goal in the final.

Martinez, who is headed to the University of North Carolina, wasn't the only DSC standout.

Sebastian Velasquez finished as DSC's top scorer with five goals and won the Golden Boot as the top player in the U-18 division. He received a GED and hoped to get a look from a team in Europe.

Ralph Lundy, son of the longtime College of Charleston coach of the same name, scored four goals in an 8-1 win over East Fishkill Thunder in pool play.

Defender Robbie Benson, who assisted on both goals in the final, and Lundy are among six DSC players who have joined Lundy's father at College of Charleston.

Rock Hill Schools Announce Awards

Al Leonard, principal at South Pointe High, has been chosen as the 2009 Administrator of the Year by the Journalism Education and National Scholastic Press associations for his dedication to journalism education. Dr. Leonard will receive his award in November at the JEA/NSPA national convention in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Cynthia Smith (Brattonsville Academy), Bud Cope (DCMS), and Cathy Griffin(NHS) have been chosen as 2009 Social Studies Educators of Distinction for their efforts to extend the social studies beyond the classroom. The three teachers will be honored in October at the annual conference of the S. C. Council for the Social Studies in Myrtle Beach.